Thursday, September 5, 2013

The awesome cosplay is one of the big appeals of Dragon Con, at least for me. I don't know the actual statistics, but it's one of the cons with the highest ratio of cosplayers to non-cosplayers.

This year I didn't go to the parade or any costume contests (my schedule just didn't work out that way), so I only grabbed pictures of people I saw walking around the con. But as usual the quality of costumes at Dragon Con was fantastic. So here are some highlights.

Stormtroopers are a fixture at Dragon Con thanks to the 501st legion. And every year I like to take a picture of my first stormtrooper sighting. This year my first sighting happened to be three stormtroopers who had an R2 unit with them. Apparently they did find the driod they were looking for.

The impact of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time can be seen by the fact that people still cosplay it. Link cosplays from every Zelda game are always popular, but Sheik--who is specific only to Ocarina of Time--makes a strong showing every year. I think the popularity of this costume relates not only to the awesome twist in the end that Sheik was Zelda, but Sheik is kick-butt and female fans of the game want an awesome female character they can cosplay as. Sheik is that character.

There was one really awesome Portal themed Link and Sheik pair that I, alas, failed to take a picture of. But it was awesome. I love how creative cosplayers are and how they can mash up two totally different things into one awesome thing.

I always love a good Star Trek cosplay, even if I don't think technically Andorians would have been a part of Starfleet in the era the uniform clearly comes from. But she pulled off a fantastic Andorian and looked good in that red dress. I couldn't help but take a picture!

I really love the show Merlin, so when I saw a kid cosplaying as Merlin I had to take a picture. Then it turned out his boyfriend was there as well cosplaying as Arthur! This was a timely cosplay considering the show just ended and I think they managed to capture the aesthetic of the two characters.

And then finally my favorite cosplay of the weekend....

The Abhorsen.

In six years of going to Dragon Con this is only the second Abhorsen costume I've ever seen. (I think the last time I saw one was my first year at Dragon Con, in fact.) This cosplay was spot on. I could easily tell who she was supposed to be. Though she doesn't have the hair to be specifically Sabriel or Lirael, she's obviously an Abhorsen. And the great thing about the Abhorsen is there have been lots of them! So she didn't need to change her hair to be a specific one.

Her bandolier with her necromancer bells was fantastic, and I have no idea how she drew on (stamped on? painted on?) all the keys on the blue fabric, but it was perfect.

Sadly, she said I was the only person to recognize her that day, which made me sad, because the Abhorsen trilogy is a fantastic set of books that you should all go read right now.

So those were my favorite cosplays from around the con! Did you guys see anything interesting? If so send me links! Either here or on twitter @Brown_Ajah.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

I'm not going to leave you in anticipation of how my Nova cosplay turned out. So without further ado, my Nova cosplay:

I think this turned out as a huge success! I was worried people wouldn't recognize who I was supposed to be, but it was a silly worry! I was first recognized in the elevator, where someone commented about the elevator being over full and another person responded: "Don't worry. Nova won't let anything happen to us."

Every time someone recognized me, they felt the need to say it. As I walked down the street or through the building people did double takes and shouted "Nova!" Someone commented that I was the first female Nova they have ever seen. And several people stopped me and asked for my photo.

I saw only one other Nova the entire weekend, and he was cosplaying the Richard Rider Nova. Unfortunately I was unable to snap a picture of him, and it was on a day I wasn't wearing my Nova cosplay, or else I would have gotten a picture of the two of us together!

Also worthy of mention, the outfit was not stifling (I didn't even come close to dying of heat exhaustion!) and the helmet was fairly comfortable. After wearing it for twelve hours it did start to hurt my nose, which gets mashed flat by the front of the helmet, but considering it took that long, I'm still counting it as a success.

Nova was my Saturday cosplay, but on Friday I cosplayed as the Doctor. The Doctor is always a popular cosplay but I still had a ton of fun wearing it.

Sunday is always steampunk day for me. I've been wearing the same Victorian suit for the Sunday of DragonCon for the past three years, but I still think it goes over well. Though I have plans to change things up for next year.

I wore a Camp Jupiter shirt on Monday but I had to accessorize it with my Nova boots and a steampunk hat I had just purchased, so it became less of a cosplay and more of a "things that don't fit in my suitcase" look. So I didn't take a picture of it.

So those were my cosplays from DragonCon 2013! If you cosplayed please share! Put a link or pictures in the comments!

And if you want any specific information on my cosplays, how I made things or wear I purchased them, just ask! I'm always willing to help!